Great system!Kind of late, maybe it will help someone else that is interested in doing something similar. This is how I did my unistrut/mounting bracket. This keeps the panel low and very easy to get to the mounting bolts. Yes, the unistrut is laying on the roof, but the roof isn't perfectly flat, and has plenty of places for drainage.
150ft of unistrut, screwed to the rafters with 1/4" SS lags.
View attachment 51412
4x RivNuts per panel.
View attachment 51413
Brackets bolted to the unistrut, then into the side of the panels. This allowed the edge of the panel to be even with the edge of the roof too, and allowed 3 panels wide in places that allowed. This bracket i designed also has a place to step at the top, so I can walk the full length of the roof without stepping on a panel.
View attachment 51414
All 12 mounted, with room for 2 more if I get bored.
View attachment 51415
Kind of late, maybe it will help someone else that is interested in doing something similar. This is how I did my unistrut/mounting bracket. This keeps the panel low and very easy to get to the mounting bolts. Yes, the unistrut is laying on the roof, but the roof isn't perfectly flat, and has plenty of places for drainage.
150ft of unistrut, screwed to the rafters with 1/4" SS lags.
View attachment 51412
4x RivNuts per panel.
View attachment 51413
Brackets bolted to the unistrut, then into the side of the panels. This allowed the edge of the panel to be even with the edge of the roof too, and allowed 3 panels wide in places that allowed. This bracket i designed also has a place to step at the top, so I can walk the full length of the roof without stepping on a panel.
View attachment 51414
All 12 mounted, with room for 2 more if I get bored.
View attachment 51415
I called up SanTan Solar and asked them if they had any panels under 33" (which is the distance from my AC to edge of roof), and they had these Sunpower 240w E19 panels that were 32" Wide. They were used, and only $80, for a super high quality panel.Great system!
What panels are you using? Most panels I looked at are 40 inches wide - and the RVs are usually 88-102 inches wide.
Yours seem to be a good use of the space.
Panel warranty didnt have me too concerned because mine were used anyways. But I did notice that the frame was double walled, so I had to drill through 2 pieces of aluminum to put the RivNut in. But they are very very strong. My buddy said the only way these are coming off, is if the whole roof comes with it!Rivnuts are a good idea and I want thinking long and hard about doing exactly what you did but the only thing that steered me away was the panel warranty. Probably not a big deal as once they get on the roof working not likely to fail; and if they do it's usually from something not covered, but is what it is.
Not sure why the manufactures don't give us more hole options to do this!
Looks great !....got to love those Angle washers ! Don't remember ever seeing them before...Here is a final picture of my mounted panels. I will continue to post here the rest of my build.
I was thankful that somebody makes them and they can be ordered on Amazon!Looks great !....got to love those Angle washers ! Don't remember ever seeing them before...
Bet your glad those panels are done